I attended the marathon here in my area and we didn't get the special introduction by Sir Peter Jackson as promised in the promotional materials. One of the theatre workers explained that the company that distributes the films sent the intros too late (the day of the marathon) and the time it would take to download them would take too long for them to have them prepared to show. Did anyone else have the same problem in their market?

Yes. Ours was the same according to the thater manager. They arrive and are played off of hard drives and the drive didn't arrive for Saturday UPS. I wanted to give them more of a hard time about it, but they gave me the poster that was in the lobby for the marathon.

I never bothered to ask management about it though. I was already complaining about other things - namely the woman 4 seats over from me texting throughout FOTR and the poor sound quality, which they got fixed for ROTK (they didn't have the surround on!).

I'm hoping that the intro will be posted online sometime this week, maybe by Jackson himself, for those that did not get to see it. But in Lindon Gil-Galad still maintained his power, and Sauron dared not as yet to pass the Mountains of Ered Luin nor to assail the Havens.

well... I always try to find an approach other than complain for the first step :-)
[In reply to]

Can't Post

Sometimes, all it takes is asking.

Perhaps you (and other people) expressing your disappointment on Jackson's facebook page would gather some attention.

I try to include four things when I do this sort of thing:

One: a pleasant start - I loved XXX...

Two: an expression of disappointment or concern - but I was sorry to find that XXX...

Three: a clear statement of what I'm asking or hoping for - is it possible that XXX...

Four: thanks - thanks for considering it / looking into it...

What you want to convey is That you are a person that consumes someone's product. That you weren't/aren't happy and that's impinging on your desire to continue consuming their product. That you can be made happy if ____ is done.

When I said "complain" I didn't mean it that literally, lol. Your well-thought-out answer is both psychologically sound and adult, which is the road I usually travel. I'll take your advice and start posting away! Thank you.

There is a substantial contingency around that seems to feel that loud and vocal complaining is the only way to get action. I occasionally try to steer thought (in general) away from that mindset.

I think I've worked out this more 'adult' way by having to deal with my hot temper. lol. And, when pushed too far (as in, the nice, reasonable approach hasn't worked - or the offense has hit me very wrong), I have been known to stand in the front of the store and chew out a manager. But overall, it keeps me more sane and happy to at least hope someone will listen if I talk nicely. And I know that, at the person at the other end of my complaint is likely just a schmo like me... trying to make a living doing a job.

suggests that the theaters are not to blame. Digital copies of movies have to be "ingested" into the digital projector, which can be a complicated process involving "keys" (elaborate passwords) and so on.

It is most likely that the distributor, that is, Warner Bros., is to blame for not shipping the hard drives with the intro early enough to reach theaters. That said, it's rather mysterious why they would do so, since this is the core activity of their business. It might be that Peter did not get the intro recorded soon enough for the copies to be shipped out. Which is not like him, but it's possible.

In short, your local exhibitor probably is very upset about not having the intro and doesn't deserve to get complaints. It happened somewhere up the line.